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Batteries, razorblades and metals Everything was found in stomachs
Five-mark pieces, razor blades, safety pins: a doctor from Bielefeld tells in a book which objects he has found in the stomachs of his patients. The stories behind it are often even more curious than the things.
Foreign body in the gastrointestinal tract
Swallowed small parts can lead to severe damage in the gastrointestinal tract. It is therefore always amazing with what bad injuries or foreign bodies in the body people can survive.
It's unbelievable what can end up in someone's stomach. A doctor reports swallowed spoons, batteries and other curios. (Image: magicmine / fotolia.com) 40 knives swallowed
In 2014, a shaman in Nepal was reported to be swallowing four 12- to 15-centimeter long iron bars that stayed in the 47-year-old's body for two months before being removed by doctors.
And just a few weeks ago, "CNN" reported a case from India where 40 knives were taken from a man's stomach. The 42-year-old had swallowed the pieces, because he felt an incredible desire for metal.
Swallowed spoons made for a change
But even in this country, doctors get things out of the stomachs of patients, which raises the question of how they could be swallowed at all. Siegfried Ernst Miederer has experienced so much in his everyday practice. The longtime former chief physician of a Bielefeld clinic with a focus on gastroenterology told in a message from the news agency dpa, what he has already found everything inside people.
Miederer points to a series of metal handles and says: "The many spoon handles a man has swallowed. He was an inmate of a prison near Bonn and hoped that variety of prison life. "The" poor swallower, "as the 74-year-old physician calls in retirement, had broken the actual spoon to the better ten centimeters long rest of the cutlery better to get the esophagus.
"That brought at least two weeks hospital. He came out of the prison and was also able to enjoy the care of the nurses. "After the inmate had been operated more than 20 times, Miederer offered to use an endoscope to remove the objects through the esophagus. The man then stopped swallowing spoon stalks. Miederer has collected the spoon handles, as well as other items such as Rollmopsspieße, buttons and keys.
With endoscope in the stomach look
His collection also stands for a chapter in the history of medicine: as early as the mid-19th century, there was the idea of looking into the stomach of a patient with a long tube. The research was finally completed in 1958, so that the first flexible endoscope could be presented.
Soon after, Miederer was able to recover objects swallowed up without surgery. The doctor was later involved in the development of the first disinfectant device for flexible endoscopes at the University of Bonn's Medical Polyclinic, which is now on display at the Bonn branch of the Deutsches Museum - alongside a series of "Magen Findings" from Miederer's collection.
Sensational character between disgust and amazement
"They are among our most highly regarded exhibits. Again and again, visitors are standing in front of it and are surprised that you can simply swallow whole spoons and even a dentist's drill, "explains museum director Andrea Niehaus in the dpa message. Using the sensational character of disgust and amazement, the museum draws attention to the history of endoscopy, as exemplified by early 1950s endoscopes.
Doctor had to buy father's removed coin
Miederer can tell his own story to each of his curious finds, for example, to the five-mark piece, which a teacher's son had accidentally swallowed while beating up with the older brother. After the doctor had taken the coin out of his stomach, the father immediately put it in his own pocket.
"I first had to give him a fiver out of my own wallet before he gave me the coin for my collection," recalls Miederer, who has written a book with the most interesting facts about the finds. Among other things, he reports on the battery that a boy of elementary age has swallowed in a toy car race.
According to the physician, the boy had secretly hidden the battery from his six-year-old's car in his mouth to improve his chances of winning - and then accidentally swallowed it.
If in doubt, seek medical help
However, such incidents do not always go smoothly. "It becomes problematic when round objects are placed on the larynx. Then there is danger of suffocation, "says Miederer. Therefore, in case of doubt, a doctor should be consulted. Even with some other items, such as swallowed magnets, you should get medical help.
But other little things will find their way back to the light by themselves. Support is not needed - except maybe a decent portion of mashed potatoes and a few glasses of water. (Ad)